anthony263
Established Member
So this trip which I have been looking forward to since I purchased my coach ticket 2 weeks ago started off a bit wet as it was raining and I ended up walking to Pyle railway station. So I ended up drip drying as I waited for my train at Pyle station.
The train I was waiting for was the 21:34 Milford Haven - Cardiff service which calls at Pyle at 23:57 however tonight it arrived at 23:58 and was formed of 153367. The train is relatively full with people returning from west wales and one or two having gone for an evening out in Swansea. Certainly I do hope when the timetables are recast when electrification to Swansea is completed I do hope the opportunity is taken to put on a late night service from Swansea to Cardiff at around 23:15 as the current last train at 22:30 is just too early.
Anyway the conducter could not issue me a ticket as his machine was not working so I ended up having a free ride. The majority of passengers got off at Bridgend so now it was only myself an two members of ATW staff in addition to the driver. 153367 put in a very good effort as we made our way along the Vale of Glamorgan line passing through Barry at 00:33 after departing Bridgend at 00:08.
Arrival into Cardif Central was at 00:50 two minutes early. So I made my way out of the station at and walked a few yeards to stand B3 at Cardiff Bus station. There was actually a lot of people waiting around for the 01:15 National Express service to Gatwick Airport. The bus station is actually very well lit and there is always a good number of taxi's parked up near the coach stands which is good if you are waiting for a coach.
Edwards Coaches FJ12 FYC a Levate bodied Volvo arrives at 01:10 and the driver starts assisting passengers load their lugguge as does the 2nd driver which is required on these runs to Gatwiwck as they are too long to be worked by 1 driver. Another surprise came when a Greyhound coach arrived from Bristol Airport at 01:35. Couldnt I.d it as the weather was really terrible and it was pouring down so I stayed in the relatively warm waiting area.
At 02:15, WA61 AKV a Van Hool Acorn bodied Volvo operated by Chalfront coaches of Harrow arrived. I had thought Edwards had all the National Express services in South Wales with the exception of the Hull - Swansea service. Anyway the driver finally opened the doors to allow us onto the coach at 02:30. Departure was ontime at 02:45 hwoever it was slow going all the way at Gabalta Interchange due to parts of North Road being closed at the council are widening the road and changing the layout to put in another bus lane. Anyway we arrived into Bristol Bus station ontime at 04:00 where aabout 15 passengers boarded the coach. Now a straight blast up the motorway which was quiet even as we apporached the area near Heathrow and the Hammersmith Flyover. I got off the coach at the 1st stop in London at West Cromwell road which is only a very short walk from Olympia station. National Express funfare ticket holders are allowed to get off early instead of having to travel all the way to Victoria Coach station.
I must confess I hadnt known we could do this but I did get off however it did throw the dyas plan a little out of sort. By now it was 05:55 the coach is booked here at 06:10 so I guess it would have gotten into Victoria early as well. Not complaining so It was into Tesco to stock up then walk to Olympia station. It took me about 6 minutes so thanks to the booking office at Olympia station being closed and the TVM refusing to accept railcard discounts I ended up buying a Zones 1-6 travelcard for £16.40.
I spent a good while photographing including D stock unit 7022 which was working the 06:22 depature to Dagenham East. I boarded the 06:26 London Overground service to Wilessdon Junction arriving at 06:33, I didnt think it was so quick. I do agree with TFL's idea that a station should be built on the West London line around the Old Oak Common area.
At Willesdon Junction Iwas rewarded with 172007 arrving into the low level bay as it reversed from the depot before working ECS to Woodgrage Park where it would work the 07:59 service back to Willesdon Junction. These units do have a top speed of 100mph as there is a board in the drivers cab saying so so that should settle the argument about whether or not the units are geared for 75mph or 100mph.
I ended up getting a Bakerloo line service to Paddington where I went to the toilets,still coasting 30p to get in. After this I made my way to the Praed Street platforms where I boarded a Wimbledon service. I arrived into Wimbledon at 07:58 and parts of the station were quiet so I got some photography in. at 08:30 I boarded a tram to take me to New Addington where I got off for a quick photo then re-boarded the tram back to Croydon to where I got off at East Croydon station and went to visit the Tramlink shop. Sadly they have stopped going to free information booklet on the tramlink which is a very big shame as I wanted one.
I took the opportunity to visit the local Halifax branch to withdrawn even more money, I always ended up spending more than I plan to when I visit London.
I spent the next hour or two traveling to all the tramlink branches includig some trips on teh new trams which are very light and airy a lot better than the other trams. Certainly I do hope the Amman Valley Railway's plans are sucessful and they can attract enough foreign investors to invest in their proposals to re-open the line from Mumbles to Swansea and Fabian Way where they plan on linking the tramline to the Swansea District line.
After all this was completed I made my way back from Wimbledon back to Earls Court and onto Ealing Broadway. After a few photographs were taken at Ealing Broadway I headed to Acton Mainline where there was plenty of activety to keep yourself busy. 66604 was the 1st freight
I saw leaving Acton taking the line up towards Willesdon and was followed by Hanson liveried 59103 arriving with a heavy stone train. over the next 30 minutes 165119 and 66619 were seen.
I then headed back to Paddington where I came up with the crazy plan to traveling the full loop of the Circle Line.
For thr est of the day until about 4pm I ended up doing the following:
Paddington - Enbankment - Bakerloo Line.
Enbankment - Tower Hill - District line
After this I got some trips on the DLR network includiing the branch to Straford Regional before I then got a Greater Anglia service from Stratford to Romford so I could get a trip on the Romford - Upminster shuttle. 321316 was the traction. At Upminster I then traveled on the 15:02 C2C service to Fenchurch St arriving at 15:30.
Outside Fenchurch street I made my way to the bus stops near Tower Gateway station hoping to get a ride on one of the Hydrogen powered buses used on route RV1. Sadly Missed one by 5 minutes and thes rest of the services seemed to be covered by darts. Getting fed up I made my way to Marylebone for tea where I got a cheeseburger meal from Burger king.
I then boarded the 17:27 service to West Ruislip the unit being 165007. This train was very full however there was still a lot of standing space. I got off at South Ruislip at 17:50 and watched the various Chiltern services go flying by before getting a Central Line service to Greenford.
At Greenford I awaited the 18:15 service to London Paddington which I was traveling on as far as Ealing Broadway. I noticed as westopped at South Greenford that the following departure at 18:49 was cancelled which I later found out was because 165119 had decided to not play ball although it did get its act together.
It was chaos at Ealing Broadway as another 165 must have failed somewhere during the day at the 18:35 depatrture from Ealing Broadway to Oxford was only formed of 3 carriages so passengers for some stations were being told to wait for the Heathrow Connect service which had 5 carriages.
Eventually 165107 tried to pull away before the engine made a strange noise the train quickly stopped. I had thought ow dear now thats gone however the engine did fire back up and the train was quickly moving on its way 2nd time lucky.
At 18:44 I was in luck as 360205 turned up heading to London Paddington so it means that I now have the entire set. 360205 is far superior to its sisters since it has a much nicer livery and interior. If these units when they are displaced by Crossrail I wouldnt mind them being used on a Swansea/Cardiff - Bristol TM shuttle if Greater Anglia decided they did not want them.
After all this I was fealing a bit tired so it was back to Victoria taking a slightly longer route as I wanted to get some trips on various underground stock. I took the time at Victoria to photo a Borismaster. After this I made my way back to Victoria coach station to wait for my coach. the 21:00 was to my surprise formed of WA61 AJV again.
I am a fan of these volvos and this bodywork since they are lovely to drive as well as being easier to manouver compared to some other coaches.
Departure from Victoria was ontime at 21:00 as we were soon heading out of London. The traffic Wombles are out tonight as there was a lot of roadworks along the M4 but wer soon arrived in Newport bus station and then into Cardiff City Centre trying to dodge drunk students who decided to play chicken as we drove along Greyfriars road. Arrival into Cardiff was 5 minutes early at 00:10.
After this rather than wait for the last FGW swansea service which was due to depart Cardiff at around 01:15 I opted to take the Greyhound coach at 00:30 and at 00:20 Miss Sherry turns up (forgot the number plate registration but I remember the name on the side of the coach.). Who else would be driving but and old collegue of mine so there was trime for a good chat as we caught up.
The coach left at 00:30 with me being the only passenger. Seems the fuses on these coaches cannot seem to to cope with the very high demand from people using all their laptops and mobile phones so First are spending a lot of time changing fuses.
Coach arrived into the Bridgend/Mc Arthur Glen outslet coach stop at 00:56 so after wishing my collegue a nice journey home I got a taxi back to my house finally crawling into bed at 01:30.
Photos will be posted on facebook and my flickr account later today
The train I was waiting for was the 21:34 Milford Haven - Cardiff service which calls at Pyle at 23:57 however tonight it arrived at 23:58 and was formed of 153367. The train is relatively full with people returning from west wales and one or two having gone for an evening out in Swansea. Certainly I do hope when the timetables are recast when electrification to Swansea is completed I do hope the opportunity is taken to put on a late night service from Swansea to Cardiff at around 23:15 as the current last train at 22:30 is just too early.
Anyway the conducter could not issue me a ticket as his machine was not working so I ended up having a free ride. The majority of passengers got off at Bridgend so now it was only myself an two members of ATW staff in addition to the driver. 153367 put in a very good effort as we made our way along the Vale of Glamorgan line passing through Barry at 00:33 after departing Bridgend at 00:08.
Arrival into Cardif Central was at 00:50 two minutes early. So I made my way out of the station at and walked a few yeards to stand B3 at Cardiff Bus station. There was actually a lot of people waiting around for the 01:15 National Express service to Gatwick Airport. The bus station is actually very well lit and there is always a good number of taxi's parked up near the coach stands which is good if you are waiting for a coach.
Edwards Coaches FJ12 FYC a Levate bodied Volvo arrives at 01:10 and the driver starts assisting passengers load their lugguge as does the 2nd driver which is required on these runs to Gatwiwck as they are too long to be worked by 1 driver. Another surprise came when a Greyhound coach arrived from Bristol Airport at 01:35. Couldnt I.d it as the weather was really terrible and it was pouring down so I stayed in the relatively warm waiting area.
At 02:15, WA61 AKV a Van Hool Acorn bodied Volvo operated by Chalfront coaches of Harrow arrived. I had thought Edwards had all the National Express services in South Wales with the exception of the Hull - Swansea service. Anyway the driver finally opened the doors to allow us onto the coach at 02:30. Departure was ontime at 02:45 hwoever it was slow going all the way at Gabalta Interchange due to parts of North Road being closed at the council are widening the road and changing the layout to put in another bus lane. Anyway we arrived into Bristol Bus station ontime at 04:00 where aabout 15 passengers boarded the coach. Now a straight blast up the motorway which was quiet even as we apporached the area near Heathrow and the Hammersmith Flyover. I got off the coach at the 1st stop in London at West Cromwell road which is only a very short walk from Olympia station. National Express funfare ticket holders are allowed to get off early instead of having to travel all the way to Victoria Coach station.
I must confess I hadnt known we could do this but I did get off however it did throw the dyas plan a little out of sort. By now it was 05:55 the coach is booked here at 06:10 so I guess it would have gotten into Victoria early as well. Not complaining so It was into Tesco to stock up then walk to Olympia station. It took me about 6 minutes so thanks to the booking office at Olympia station being closed and the TVM refusing to accept railcard discounts I ended up buying a Zones 1-6 travelcard for £16.40.
I spent a good while photographing including D stock unit 7022 which was working the 06:22 depature to Dagenham East. I boarded the 06:26 London Overground service to Wilessdon Junction arriving at 06:33, I didnt think it was so quick. I do agree with TFL's idea that a station should be built on the West London line around the Old Oak Common area.
At Willesdon Junction Iwas rewarded with 172007 arrving into the low level bay as it reversed from the depot before working ECS to Woodgrage Park where it would work the 07:59 service back to Willesdon Junction. These units do have a top speed of 100mph as there is a board in the drivers cab saying so so that should settle the argument about whether or not the units are geared for 75mph or 100mph.
I ended up getting a Bakerloo line service to Paddington where I went to the toilets,still coasting 30p to get in. After this I made my way to the Praed Street platforms where I boarded a Wimbledon service. I arrived into Wimbledon at 07:58 and parts of the station were quiet so I got some photography in. at 08:30 I boarded a tram to take me to New Addington where I got off for a quick photo then re-boarded the tram back to Croydon to where I got off at East Croydon station and went to visit the Tramlink shop. Sadly they have stopped going to free information booklet on the tramlink which is a very big shame as I wanted one.
I took the opportunity to visit the local Halifax branch to withdrawn even more money, I always ended up spending more than I plan to when I visit London.
I spent the next hour or two traveling to all the tramlink branches includig some trips on teh new trams which are very light and airy a lot better than the other trams. Certainly I do hope the Amman Valley Railway's plans are sucessful and they can attract enough foreign investors to invest in their proposals to re-open the line from Mumbles to Swansea and Fabian Way where they plan on linking the tramline to the Swansea District line.
After all this was completed I made my way back from Wimbledon back to Earls Court and onto Ealing Broadway. After a few photographs were taken at Ealing Broadway I headed to Acton Mainline where there was plenty of activety to keep yourself busy. 66604 was the 1st freight
I saw leaving Acton taking the line up towards Willesdon and was followed by Hanson liveried 59103 arriving with a heavy stone train. over the next 30 minutes 165119 and 66619 were seen.
I then headed back to Paddington where I came up with the crazy plan to traveling the full loop of the Circle Line.
For thr est of the day until about 4pm I ended up doing the following:
Paddington - Enbankment - Bakerloo Line.
Enbankment - Tower Hill - District line
After this I got some trips on the DLR network includiing the branch to Straford Regional before I then got a Greater Anglia service from Stratford to Romford so I could get a trip on the Romford - Upminster shuttle. 321316 was the traction. At Upminster I then traveled on the 15:02 C2C service to Fenchurch St arriving at 15:30.
Outside Fenchurch street I made my way to the bus stops near Tower Gateway station hoping to get a ride on one of the Hydrogen powered buses used on route RV1. Sadly Missed one by 5 minutes and thes rest of the services seemed to be covered by darts. Getting fed up I made my way to Marylebone for tea where I got a cheeseburger meal from Burger king.
I then boarded the 17:27 service to West Ruislip the unit being 165007. This train was very full however there was still a lot of standing space. I got off at South Ruislip at 17:50 and watched the various Chiltern services go flying by before getting a Central Line service to Greenford.
At Greenford I awaited the 18:15 service to London Paddington which I was traveling on as far as Ealing Broadway. I noticed as westopped at South Greenford that the following departure at 18:49 was cancelled which I later found out was because 165119 had decided to not play ball although it did get its act together.
It was chaos at Ealing Broadway as another 165 must have failed somewhere during the day at the 18:35 depatrture from Ealing Broadway to Oxford was only formed of 3 carriages so passengers for some stations were being told to wait for the Heathrow Connect service which had 5 carriages.
Eventually 165107 tried to pull away before the engine made a strange noise the train quickly stopped. I had thought ow dear now thats gone however the engine did fire back up and the train was quickly moving on its way 2nd time lucky.
At 18:44 I was in luck as 360205 turned up heading to London Paddington so it means that I now have the entire set. 360205 is far superior to its sisters since it has a much nicer livery and interior. If these units when they are displaced by Crossrail I wouldnt mind them being used on a Swansea/Cardiff - Bristol TM shuttle if Greater Anglia decided they did not want them.
After all this I was fealing a bit tired so it was back to Victoria taking a slightly longer route as I wanted to get some trips on various underground stock. I took the time at Victoria to photo a Borismaster. After this I made my way back to Victoria coach station to wait for my coach. the 21:00 was to my surprise formed of WA61 AJV again.
I am a fan of these volvos and this bodywork since they are lovely to drive as well as being easier to manouver compared to some other coaches.
Departure from Victoria was ontime at 21:00 as we were soon heading out of London. The traffic Wombles are out tonight as there was a lot of roadworks along the M4 but wer soon arrived in Newport bus station and then into Cardiff City Centre trying to dodge drunk students who decided to play chicken as we drove along Greyfriars road. Arrival into Cardiff was 5 minutes early at 00:10.
After this rather than wait for the last FGW swansea service which was due to depart Cardiff at around 01:15 I opted to take the Greyhound coach at 00:30 and at 00:20 Miss Sherry turns up (forgot the number plate registration but I remember the name on the side of the coach.). Who else would be driving but and old collegue of mine so there was trime for a good chat as we caught up.
The coach left at 00:30 with me being the only passenger. Seems the fuses on these coaches cannot seem to to cope with the very high demand from people using all their laptops and mobile phones so First are spending a lot of time changing fuses.
Coach arrived into the Bridgend/Mc Arthur Glen outslet coach stop at 00:56 so after wishing my collegue a nice journey home I got a taxi back to my house finally crawling into bed at 01:30.
Photos will be posted on facebook and my flickr account later today
